Whole wheat spaghetti with lemon and parsley

Whole wheat spaghetti with lemon and parsley: People often ask The Pasta Maker, ‘what is your favourite pasta?”. The answer is …

whole wheat pasta. The Pasta Maker will whip you up whole wheat pasta in all sorts of pasta shapes and will also add flavours to the dough. Although in this case, the flavours were added to the pasta once it was cooked and there is nothing more that gladdens our hearts than to see freshly herbs being used as liberally as possible.

Just a word about English parsley. This is the parsley with the curly leave where Italian parsley is flat. The Italian leaf is tender compared to the English version. We therefore recommend that if you want to enjoy English parsley, which has a very different flavour to Italian parsley, chop it really fine if it is going to receive only the smallest amount of cooking time. The steam from the pasta and the time it takes to turn the pasta over to combine all of the flavours, is just enough to render the English parsley used in this recipe, tender enough to enjoy.

This little recipe demonstrates beautifully that you don’t need to cover your pasta in lots of sauce to enjoy. Good olive oil, fresh lemon and herbs and that’s all she wrote!

Ingredients: Serves 2 – 3

8 oz whole-wheat spaghetti

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil divided

16 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 ¾ cup English (curly) parsley, roughly chopped

¾ tsp black pepper

1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest

¼ tsp kosher salt

¾-1 oz shaved or grated Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino or Asiago

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown and fragrant (4-7 minutes).

Stir in the parsley, pepper, and lemon zest. Cook, stirring often, until the parsley is tender (3-4 minutes).